News Flash: June 24, 2012

IT’S NEARING TIME TO PASS THE TIARAS! We are now accepting applications for the Deb Ball class of 2013! Click here for details on how you can throw your crown into the ring to be part of a wonderful ensemble of debuting authors!

Congrats to Robin D, winner of a copy of Lies Beneath!

From the 2012 Debs…

Deb Joanne just finished Deb Linda’s IN A FIX and can’t wait to share it with you all. What a treat this book is-and it was just the escape I needed as I am getting ready to launch! Speaking of which, the Canadian release for SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE is this Tuesday and there are already copies on bookstore shelves. Also, don’t forget my Book Launch EXTRAVAGANZA is coming up and I’ll also be at Yorkdale Indigo (Toronto) on July 7. If you’re in Southern Ontario – I’d love to see you for one of these events!

Deb Erika is up in Maine, devouring–and loving!–Deb Linda’s IN A FIX, and hoping everyone has had a great week! She’s looking forward to presenting LITTLE GALE GUMBO at this coming Brown Bag Lunch at the Portland Public Library at noon on Wednesday–and she’s very excited to hear about Deb Linda’s first scheduled signing, too!

Deb Dish – A weather question: Do you find weather in your scenes is an afterthought, or does it sometimes drive the mood of your scenes?

Deb Erika It really depends for me. If anything, the two can be closely tied–I will often envision a scene and the current weather at the same time. I think often we think of weather descriptions as throwaway details but they shouldn’t be. Like our daily lives, weather affects us, often more than we realize, and so it should be in our novels.

Deb Molly Not just the weather but the setting, including weather, season, time of day, place — I think setting is incredibly important, not just to set a mood, but to give us more information about how a character perceives and moves through the world. For instance, in a sudden summer storm, a character might frown at the window, or shake a fist at the sky and yell “Screw you, weather!” or bolt outside to spin around in the middle of the street. In any case, it’s a reflection of who that character is in general, and in the specific moment.

Deb Linda — I don’t know that I’d say the weather drives the mood in my books, but it reflects it at times. Sometimes even helps the plot move along by interacting with my characters, as when a thunderstorm seems to, um, make a statement about my MC’s behavior at the end of In a Fix. (Don’t worry–that’s not a spoiler.)